Networks Spending More Time On Dramatic Weather

The correspondent most frequently seen on either ABC, CBS or NBC's evening newscasts this year doesn't work out of the White House or some overseas trouble zone. It's Ginger Zee, ABC's meteorologist.

Weather is a big element of local news, but a story about the elements once had to be extraordinary to warrant time on a national newscast. Now it's routine, and not everyone considers that a change for the better.

The Associated Press reports over the past five years, the newscasts have essentially doubled the amount of time spent on weather and natural disaster stories. The time has more than quadrupled since the early 1990s, said news consultant Andrew Tyndall, who monitors the content of the broadcasts.

During Muir's first three months, ABC spent 150 minutes on weather stories. NBC did 106 minutes and CBS had 69 minutes, Tyndall said.

Smartphones and social media have made video of dramatic weather, crashing waves and whiteouts of snow more readily available than a decade ago.

The concern is that video makes weather stories catnip to producers, irresistible even with limited news value, said Patrick Burkey, "Nightly News" executive producer.

Others use a more blunt term: weather porn. The extra time spent on these stories can't be explained by an increased frequency of or interest in bad weather, and they're rarely used in context of a discussion about climate change, Tyndall said.